132 Leaves from an Indian Jungle. 



The men now arrived, and he who had done the scouting 

 was pouring a stream of voluble abuse over the shaggy 

 hide. I pricked up my ears. 



" What's that you say ?" I enquired, "abductor of women !' y 



" Oh yes, Sahib ! The old blackguard ! Doesn't he just ? 

 Didn't a bear carry off a woman of our village, and shut 

 her up in a cave all the rainy season ! " 



"When?" 



" Oh, years ago, when I was a bachcha / " 



" You seem to know a lot about it," said I. " But per- 

 haps the lady was a relative of yours, eh ? " 



" Nay, Sahib, ham kaisa " but his abashed pro- 

 testations were drowned in the ill-suppressed cachinnations 

 of the other Korkus, and an explosive and spirituous chok- 

 ing from Lallu, a vagabond old bacchanalian, who acted 

 as my shikari at that time. 



Bana, or " The Bear," became that luckless fellow's 

 nickname thenceforth. It is curious how widespread is 

 this native notion regarding these ursine amourettes. 



One of the funny bits of this morning's work was the 

 look of startled surprise on the face of another sportsman, 

 who h? d received news of the same bear, but from another 

 source, and had ridden cheerfully six miles out, when he 

 suddenly met " Bhdlu" coming home in a cart ! 



To descend to sport of a somewhat tamer kind than that 

 which has been already described, there were plenty of 

 antelope within easy reach of Junglypur. 



By taking a tiffin-basket, and spending the morning and 

 afternoon out in the plains, with a mid-day halt under some 

 shady grove of trees, a complete and healthy change was 

 to be had from the dull routine of station life ; while a 

 light tent and a slightly more elaborate arrangement of the 

 commissariat and transport enabled one to extend one's 



